Adventures of Illuminatus: Blackrock Foundry
by Kirishtu
Summary: Probably the final installment of the Adventures series. This time around finds the guild of Illuminatus, Shandris realm, taking on the Blackrock Foundry.
1. Chapter 1

Gruul

Written to Those Who Fight Further - Battle Theme of Final Fantasy VII

"So..." began Kyel, "how long did it take everyone to find this place, who _didn't_ get a summon?"

The blood elf warlock's voice echoed in the massive front hall of the Blackrock Foundry. Surrounding him were the rest of his teammates, some of whom paused in eating or drinking to look at him and then each other.

"I took the flight point to Skysea and hoofed it from there." Schio said, raising her hands to cast her soulwell spell.

"Same," said Jaycie, "but I used the feather to get here."

"You guys took the long way." Cosmodru said. "I flew to Everbloom and ran south."

"Or, you know, we could make sure everyone gets a summon _before_ we run blindly in here." Riotstrasza said, waving her hand. The blood elf priestess tapped the warlock summoning portal and smiled.

"Worse t'ings have happened." Xallion said. The restoration shaman peered down the long hallway, watching the massive ogron carry boxes back and forth. His eyes scanned over the orcs and lava blobs that were standing in clumps, either unconcerned with the group of twenty-odd people hanging out in the front hall of the Foundry or ignorant of their presence.

Greymoon and Xandyr edged their way down the stairs, trying to see what they would be up against once they descended. Besides the ogron and the orcs, the path seemed to be fairly obvious. The main room split three ways: one path leading down a hall that was constantly erupting with mountainous stalagmites that crumbled away once risen; the second led into what looked like an antechamber; and the last path to their left led to an elevator that went down to the depths of the Foundry.

"Which way first, Xal?" Xandyr asked.

Xallion frowned, considering each path for a long moment. "Let's go right first. We go down de hall, and ta de room ta de right. Dat's where Gruul is."

"Does anyone else think it's weird that we're fighting Gruul again?" asked Thanatoss, following the bear and protection paladin down the stairs and into the fray of the first battle. No one gave him an answer, though most of them were thinking the same thing. But that was the norm for the world they were in now. Ever since coming to Draenor, a Draenor that was thirty-five years in their past, things that were history for them had become an event they had lived through just a few hours ago.

They fought their way through the ogron after figuring out that the monster could destroy their two tanks in one shot if not handled properly, and after figuring out that their were orcs that could summon fire elementals that made everyone's day just a little worse, they managed to time their interruption spells just right to keep any more elementals from being summoned and focused their enemies down as fast as they could. Once they were sure there were no more surprises, the group stood before the right hall that descended downwards, watching red runes appear on the floor just before the stalagmites thrust upwards.

Badlanguage dug around in her pack for a minute, producing a goblin glider. Winking at her friends, she leaped into the air, unfurled the glider, and soared downwards - only to hit a sudden stalagmite that appeared in front of her. She lay stunned for a moment, cursing softly while everyone else laughed. She rolled to her feet and hauled herself down the last few feet of the tunnel. Others with gliders followed her example with a little more success, while those who didn't have gliders took their chances in dodging the stalagmites, which was harder than it seemed. By the time the stragglers reached the group at the end of the tunnel, the orcs standing at the bottom had been murdered and Greymoon and Xandyr were already engaged with the group in the center of the catwalk.

The catwalk overlooked the blast furnace, allowing the warriors of Illuminatus to actually look down on a room they would eventually have to go to. For a minute, they watched, mesmerized by the sheer size of the room and the fact their enemy was just _right there_. To the left and right, the catwalk led to separate tunnels, both of which were filled with different, and familiar, enemies. The right path is what they chose, and they found their enemies to be a mix of orcs and gronnlings, the latter of which hurt like a wicked bitch in heat.

As they turned the corner, they caught their first glimpse of Gruul. Griddlecake let out a low whistle. "Damn. He looks even scarier than before."

"Do you think it's the hook or the fact he's three times our size?" Martyrdom asked, studying the giant gronn's missing limb and the iron construct it had been replaced with.

"I dunno. Both?"

They had to engage a few more enemies before they could finally prepare for Gruul, and the orc they fought, along with the gronnlings accompanying him, gave them more trouble than they thought he would. But he finally fell, leaving their path clear to Gruul.

"Okay." Xallion said. "Ya'll are split up inta two groups. Half o'ya go ta de right, de otha' half ta de left. Tanks be in de middle, facin' him."

"Why are we splitting up?" asked Julip. "Wouldn't it be easier to face him together?"

"We're splittin' up because of an attack he does, inferno slice. It puts a debuff on de tank who has 'im, and if we don' split it wit' one group or de otha', de tank dies."

"Ahh." Julip nodded. "I get it now."

"Also, we gotta watch out for his smash, 'cause dat hurts, and dere'll be cave-ins dat'll hurt also. Be aware o' where ya stand, okay?" Xallion looked at his friends, giving a little smile. "Dere's also anudda ability he has. It's gonna toss ya in de air an' petrify ya for a few seconds. Try ta get away from otha' people if ya get it."

They slowly split into two groups, making sure they were as even as possible before the tanks were given the okay to pull.

"Oh, wait!" Schio called, skirting the edge of the room and heading over to Xandyr. She placed her hand on his shoulder and a purple glow suffused the air around him.

He grinned. "I was just about to remind you about that."

"Shut it." Schio turned to look at Kyel and Knaak. "Can one of you soulstone Grey?"

"I got it." Kyel said, moving to place his hand on Grey's shoulder. The same purple glow suffused the air around Grey, then vanished. The two warlocks returned to their groups, and Xallion raised his hand to signal Grey.

The bear nodded, and signaled a countdown, allowing his friends to prepare themselves for the engagement of battle. With a roar, Greymoon charged Gruul, catching the monster's attention. Gruul's blows were heavy and fast despite the gronn's size, each one pounding on Greymoon with bone-breaking viciousness. Some he managed to dodge, others he didn't, but the cool healing magic quickly took care of any aches or pains he might have. When Gruul reared back, Grey quickly ran toward the group on the left. The inferno slice came hard and fast, making those in that groups stagger backwards from the force of the blow. When Gruul reared back again, Xandyr stepped forward and took the brunt of the next attack, making Gruul focus on him.

With the left and right groups separated, it was difficult to warn each other of what was happening. Their only warning was which way Gruul turned. Between the overhead smashes and the cave-ins, the petrifications and the inferno slices, each group had only a few minutes to make a decision for themselves.

Gruul's eye narrowed in anger and he let out a terrible bellow. Over the noise, her voice was barely heard, but Schio screamed out, "He's rampaging! Look out!"

Gruul's movements became wild as he spun this way and that, raising his arms over his head to bring them down hard on the floor of the room. He was unpredictable, forcing the team to watch him and watch where they were moving to. They still attacked, firing arrow and spell toward Gruul, sword and dagger hacking away at his ankles when he came within range. When Gruul finally seemed to calm down and focused on Greymoon again, beginning the cycle over again.

Thanatoss quickly adjusted his position, cursing wildly as bits of stone hammered down on his armor. "What the hell!" he growled. "Why is there a cave-in here?"

"Dunno." Xallion responded, calling to the element of water to heal the orc warrior. "Just keep an eye out on where ya stand."

Grumbling, Thanatoss continued to attack Gruul, his swords cutting into Gruul's flesh and flinging globs of blood to the floor. Thanatoss' boots slid in the blood, smearing it across the floor. When blood lust filled them, their attacks became faster and more powerful. Gruul's ankles soon looked like they had gone through a meat-grinder, and his flesh was imitating a pincushion with how many arrows stuck out of it. Burns from fire and ice darkened his skin in ugly patches, driving the monster into a fury.

Then it happened. One of Gruul's ankles could no longer support the massive weight above it and caved. As Gruul plummeted toward the ground, those beneath him dodged out of the way before renewing their attacks on him. Even as Gruul tried to pull himself upright, he found himself under an onslaught of blade and spell and arrow. Eventually, he stopped trying to get up. He stopped trying to fight. His eye rolled back into his head and his body seemed to deflate, becoming slack.

They finally stopped hacking away at Gruul when he stopped moving. They waited, holding tight to the hilts of their blades, drawing back on bowstrings, hesitating on the last syllable of their spell. When it was clear Gruul wasn't going to get back up, the warriors of Illuminatus finally seemed to relax.

"Hey," said Brofessional, "does anybody want that blackrock ore over there?"

"Seriously?" asked Digitz, staring at the troll hunter incredulously.

"Figured I'd ask, you know?" The hunter strolled over to the node and pulled out his mining pick. "It's not like he needs anymore or anything."

A series of chuckles and groans accompanied the sound of a pick hacking away at ore, and Brofessional hurried to catch up to the others as they left the room to face their next challenge.


	2. Chapter 2

Oregorger

Written to You Spin Me Right 'Round Baby (Like a Record) by Dead or Alive

The left side of the catwalk led into a tunnel that was filled with goren. Big goren, little goren, each kind had its own tactic that made the fight a little crazier than what was expected. The little goren spat globs of acid under the feet of the fighters, making the melee dance around the acid puddles or face getting their boots and feet burned off. The larger goren caused bits of laughter here and there as the goren focused on random people, forcing them to run away from the goren as the others focused on bringing them down. When the last goren fell, one wall on the west side of the room exploded. When the dust settled, a massive goren stood in the room, slavering as it chewed on the last bits of rock and ore.

"What the fuck is _that_?" Jaycie asked in a small voice, holding onto Digitz's shoulders like the rogue was a living shield between her and the monster standing before them.

" _That_ ," Xallion started, "is Oregorger. And we gonna kill him."

"Are you fucking crazy?!"

Xallion raised his hand and put his thumb and forefinger about an inch or so apart. Jaycie narrowed her eyes and frowned at him. Xallion just smirked and turned to the rest of the group. "Okay, so, ranged gonna stack on me. Melee, you with Thanatoss. Dis fight gonna be really interestin'."

As they arranged themselves and prepared for the fight, Xallion continued to explain, "He gonna be tanked right dere, in dat center hall. Ranged, we gonna be here," he stopped against the wall directly across from where Oregorger was, "and melee gonna be behind 'im. Ranged is gonna be targeted by 'is spit, so we gotta move, 'cause it'll make a damage zone beneath us. Melee, ya got it a bit easier. Thana knows what ta do, so ya listen ta 'im. Also, ya need ta interrupt somethin' called 'blackrock barrage'. Our winnin' de fight depends on ya interruptin' dat."

"Don't worry." Cosmodru said. "We'll take care of it."

Xallion nodded. "When he run outta energy, he gonna start rollin' 'round de room. Boxes gonna be in de hall. We gotta break de boxes."

"Why?" asked Webehuntin. "Wouldn't it be better ta keep attackin' him?"

"Ya can, but de longer he stays rollin' de more damage we take when he hits de walls." Xallion explained. "We gotta break de boxes, which have ore in dem. He gonna roll 'round an' eat de ore. He fill back up, an' everyt'in starts over again."

"So basically pew pew until he rolls, break the boxes, pew pew while we're at it, and pew pew some more?" Badlanguage asked, grinning.

"If that simple version is what you understand, then that's exactly it." Riotstrasza said. Badlanguage scowled at the priestess, but Xallion raised his hand to stop the argument about to begin.

The troll shaman moved to get into place. "C'mon. Let's get inta position."

The ranged joined Xallion where he stood, while the melee followed Thanatoss to their required position. Greymoon and Xandyr positioned themselves and when Xallion signaled that everyone was ready to begin, Greymoon let out a bellowing roar to get Oregorger's attention. When the giant goren focused on the bear, the rest of the group unleashed the first salvo of their attacks. The blood lust that filled them with extra power, making their attacks come faster and hit harder.

"Move!" called Xallion, shifting to the right. The rest of the ranged followed him, narrowly escaping being hit by a glob of molten rock. Behind them, a puddle of brown liquid formed, undulating in little ripples.

The melee shifted at Thanatoss' call, shifting back when he called the all clear. Oregorger flinched each time someone in the melee group used an interrupting ability on him, keeping him from spitting out blackrock at the group. The ranged shifted again to the right, and once more before moving forward. They moved left twice before Oregorger seemed to shake himself, opening his maw wide.

"He's gonna roll!" Schio yelled. The melee hurried to run out of the way of Oregorger as he turned down one of the hallways closest to him.

It seemed like all hell broke loose then, with small groups of fighters running to this or that box and working to break the boxes open before Oregorger rolled their way. The healers worked to keep everyone alive as the concussion wave of Oregorger's impact into the walls nearly threw everyone to the ground. Some were unlucky and barely escaped being flattened as Oregorger rolled over them, but they learned quickly that Oregorger focused on the blackrock ore that had been in the boxes, so as soon as they destroyed a box, they hurried away from it.

Eventually, Oregorger stopped rolling, standing for a few seconds with a delighted look on his face. His tongue swept across his lips and his eyes closed halfway, as if he were satisfied. No one hesitated; they began to attack again as they could, with Greymoon and Xandyr once more gaining the giant goren's attention and trying to lead him back to his original position.

The second round was much like the first, their actions repeating as they fought to bring the giant goren down. Between the sounds of Xallion's and Thanatoss' voices, each group shifted where they needed to go and focused on firing spell and arrow and swinging sword and dagger as hard as they could. Chips of goren shell flew into the air, which became tangy with the scent of blood. Oregorger didn't seem to notice his wounds, continuing to try and crush whoever had his attention at the time.

When the ranged took the last step to the left, they knew a second round of rolling was about to come. This time, everyone was faster in getting out of the way, racing to new crates and breaking them open. If Oregorger came within range of them, they managed to get in a few hits here and there, and the pets and summoned demons obeyed their masters' commands to attack the giant goren as he rolled by them.

"We can't let him roll a third time!" Cosmodru called as he bounded past Xallion. "If he does, we're dead!"

Xallion nodded and called for the ranged to stack up again as Greymoon and Xandyr dragged Oregorger back to his original position. As if sensing that the fight was nearing the end, everyone gave it everything they had. A little too much, it seemed, as two of their number suddenly collapsed.

"Get 'em up!" Xallion yelled.

Both Schio and Kalahandra turned to their fallen friends and cast their resurrection spells. Sabaak cursed as he inhaled, struggling to his feet beside Digitz. He took hold of his sword and hacked at Oregorger's body. A second blood lust filled his body, bringing more power to his swings.

Oregorger reared back to spit blackrock once more, his lower jaw bulging out with the regurgitated blackrock. A chaos bolt hit him on the side of the head, followed by demon bolts and a flurry of arrows. It snapped his head to the side violently. Whatever he'd been about to spit seemed stuck in his mouth, because Oregorger suddenly started scrabbling at his throat. His legs collapsed, no longer able to support him, and as soon as he was low enough, swords and claws dug into vulnerable skin, tearing it to ribbons.

Oregorger fell face-first to the floor, twitching violently in a puddle of blood and regurgitated ore, but he wasn't going to get back up. His twitches finally became less and less, and his body at last became slack as his air finally ran out. As added insurance, the blade-wielding melee took a few more pieces out of the monster, making sure that there was no way Oregorger would ever breath again.

"I hate that fight." Jaycie said, lifting her leg to squeeze out liquid blackrock from the fabric.

"Look at the bright side," Digitz said, moving to help her try and clean her clothes, "we won't have to do it again."

Jaycie looked at the blood elf rogue and frowned. "You always say that, and then we end up doing it again."

"Or something similar."

The group headed out of the room and back to the catwalk. They could see a path leading downward, which no doubt led to the blast furnace below where they stood. Instead, Xallion began walking back up the hallway with the stalagmites. The others followed him back up to the main room, and then turned right.


	3. Chapter 3

Beastlord Darmac

Written to Shake It Off by Taylor Swift

Leaving behind bodies in their wake, the warriors of Illuminatus found themselves in a short hallway that only had two offshoots - one straight ahead, whose doors were closed, and one to their right, which opened up into a wide room that smelled like a barn. It looked like a barn too, with the floor strewn with straw (and a little blood), and three animals chained to each wall. Between the animals walked an orc that was a little larger than most. He seemed to genuinely care about the animals he tended, treating the wolf, elekk, and rylak to affectionate pats and scratches as he wandered from beast to beast.

"Beastlord Darmac," Cosmodru said, shifting from his kitty form to moonkin form and rolling his shoulders as if to loosen muscles. "This is gonna be one fun fight."

"You're kidding, right?" Brofessional asked, looking at the druid as if he was crazy.

"Nope. Starfall for the win."

"So how do we kill this guy?" Sabaak asked Xallion, peering over the troll's shoulders and trying to look at the dungeon journal.

Xallion snapped the book closed and put it away. "It's gonna be kinda intense. So, tanks, ya guys'll keep him over in dat back right corner. Little beasties gonna come out, but dey'll die fast, so don' worry 'bout focusin' dem. It's de big beasties we gotta worry 'bout. When Darmac gets low 'nough, he gonna jump on one o' 'em. We gotta kill de beastie before we can touch Darmac 'gain. Also, he gonna get d'ose beasties' abilities when dey die."

"And he's gonna throw spears at us, so for the love of all that's holy, don't get hit by them." Schio added. "When they come down, don't worry about focusing them down. Use area of effect spells on them."

"I can put my clones on them." Roffls offered. The monk lifted a furry paw. "That should help."

Schio nodded. "I'll be trying to drop rain of fire on them, and Cos and Jakten have starfall."

"That's why I switched." Cos said with a grin.

"Anything else we need to know?" Jaycie asked.

Xallion shook his head. "Just call out if ya get pinned so we can get ya out, and when ya need to use a big healin' cooldown, call it out."

"Got it."

Greymoon looked over his shoulder at his friends. "Are we ready, then?"

Xallion nodded. "Yeah. We ready."

Greymoon nodded and he edged into the room, keeping close to the right hand side of the room as he moved to intercept Darmac. He let out a bellow, catching the Beastlord's attention. Darmac ran across the room to get to Greymoon, and as soon as his back was turned on the others, they started their attack.

They spread out throughout the room, keeping enough distance between themselves to keep from having an accident should something go wrong. Schio's voice warned them when the spears were about to come down, allowing them to glance up to see if they were the current target of a spear. It took a little bit to get used to the falling spears, and they had to free a few people who had gotten unlucky, but they soon got into the rhythm of dodging the falling spears. Fireballs and stars fell from the sky on clusters of the spears, while Roffls' clones attacked singular spears. None of the spears lasted longer than a handful of minutes, but they came frequently enough that it seemed like two more were taking the places of the one that was broken.

Darmac let out a bellow and leaped toward the wolf, climbing onto its back and guiding it into the fray. No longer could they reach Darmac, like Xallion had warned, so they instead focused on the wolf, working to bring down the beast while they dodged spears and the smaller animals that Darmac called to aid him.

It seemed the wolf was the easiest to deal with, at least for the ranged, who focused on bringing the animal down while they used their area of effect spells or barrages to whittle down the spears. It wasn't long before the wolf fell and they were able to focus on Darmac again.

Greymoon and Xandyr began to shift Darmac, pulling him toward the right and then across the hall, where the elekk stood. Darmac shifted and leaped toward the elekk, perching on its back as the animal trumpeted and charged toward Greymoon and Xandyr, who led it back to the original corner they had started in. Again, the ranged and melee changed their target from Darmac to the elekk, working to bring it down just as they had brought down the wolf. The spears became background concerns, though everyone still shifted if they were being targeted by a spear.

The elekk reared up suddenly, then came down hard, sending shockwaves through the floor and making the fighters stumble as the unexpected concussions disrupted the surety of their footwork. Healing magic flowed through them as the elekk continued to stamp, working to keep the fighters alive so they could continue fighting the beast.

"Work done," Kalahandra said, laughing. Other peals of laughter followed.

The elekk crumpled suddenly, throwing Darmac off its back. The elekk gave a plaintive cry before it was silenced, and Darmac became increasingly enraged as he fought against his enemies. There was only one beast left then - the rylak - which meant the fight was drawing closer and closer to an end. When Darmac leaped for the rylak, the warriors of Illuminatus shifted to get better access to the creature. Greymoon and Xandyr managed to lure the beast to the middle of the room, which the ranged and melee did whatever they could to bring the rylak down, all the while trying to avoid catching the rylak's fire breath.

They rylak fell with a pained wail, the sound abruptly cut off by sword and spell. This left Darmac alone in the battle against a group of twenty-plus strong. As Darmac turned to face his enemies, their blows became heavier and stronger, taking pieces of his armor and flesh from his body. Darmac's own blows became more wild, trying to match the heavier blows of the melee. His eyes were narrowed in anger and hate, but the anger that drove his attacks meant little to the fighters surrounding him. Their injuries were healed almost instantly by magic - Darmac only accumulated wounds, many of which bled profusely and some even displayed the white of bone.

Xandyr ducked low to avoid a swipe that came in for his head, then stabbed forward with his sword. The blade sparked against Darmac's chest-plate, eliciting a metallic screech. Because of the noise, Darmac reeled back, only to get attacked from behind by Griddlecake as the rogue took advantage of Darmac's moment of unbalance. Griddlecake dodged away before anything could happen to him, and when Darmac turned his attention back toward Xandyr, he received a shield to the face, crushing his nose.

The orc crumpled to his knees, then collapsed entirely. His eyes stared at the boots that surrounded him, his breath coming in ragged, short gasps. Darmac finally closed his eyes and stilled. Blood ran in rivulets from great rents in his armor and flesh, joining the blood of the beasts he had cared for. For a long moment, the group stared at the bodies, then looked at each other and gave relieved little smiles to each other, speaking in soft tones even as Xallion knelt by Darmac's corpse to make sure the orc was dead.

The fighters of Illuminatus retreated from the room, taking a moment to look to the left, where the previously closed doors had been. Now there were small contingents of orcs barring their way into the next room. Instead of taking the obvious choice, the group headed right, back to the main entrance of the foundry, and to the elevator that would take them down into the unknown depths.


	4. Chapter 4

Hans'gar and Franzok

Written to Take Me to Church by Hozier

The elevator took them down into the bowels of Blackrock Foundry, depositing them in a room that had two paths. They chose the one to the south and entered a wide room that had few enemies in it. At the opposite end of the room, though stood two massive orcs, each one staring at the intruders with smirks that promised pain and death if they continued any further. The smirks the two orcs had didn't scare the warriors of Illuminatus. If anything, those expressions only made them that more determined to wipe the floor with their enemies.

When they had finished with the second group of minor enemies, they regrouped by the room's entrance. A good thing too, because the two massive orcs leaped to the floor below, leering at the fighters across from them. They flexed their massive arms, displaying their muscles like a bodybuilder might, and grinned wide.

"Right, so, this fight," Nph started, grinning, "this fight is cake. The only things we have to worry about are the poptarts and the pounders."

"Excuse me, but, poptarts and pounders?" Julip asked, confused.

"The conveyor belts are going to start up at a certain point, and these big flat poptart-looking things are going to come out of the wall behind us and go toward the wall in front of us. Don't get hit by them, 'cause they hurt." Nph explained, pointing at each wall to emphasize his point. "You can stand on the center part between the belts and avoid them. Also, there'll be pounders that'll come from above. You have to avoid them because they really, _really_ hurt, and can kill you if you get hit too many times."

"Anything else we need to worry about?" Julip wondered, looking at Xallion.

He shook his head. "Not really. It's really all on de tanks here. Hans'gar and Franzok have an ability called suplex dat'll kill de tanks if dey don't use a cooldown or get a shieldin' heal on dem. One o' dem leaps across the room an' de otha one has an interrupt. Dat's about it."

"Sounds easy enough."

"It _is_ easy." Nph said with a grin. "We'll get this down in one shot."

Julip frowned slightly. "You sure?"

"Of course. When have I ever been wrong?"

"Okay, let's get movin'." Xallion stepped down onto the conveyor belts, everyone else ranging themselves about him and preparing themselves for the next fight. Greymoon and Xandyr moved into position after getting their soul-stones.

Greymoon charged the orc closest to him, and the second raced over to defend his brother from the attack. The blood lust gave Greymoon the added agility to avoid the attacks coming at him, and retaliate with his own, even as Xandyr moved into position to help him. The melee too ran into position, hacking at the target closest to them as they fought to bring down the twin orcs that stood in their way.

Some of the fighters positioned themselves on the dormant conveyor belts, and others took up positions on the steel line between the belts. That was their only advantage when the belts started to move, because they didn't have a moment of panic as the belts began to roll toward the opposite side of the wall. When they were safe on the center rail, the continued their onslaught on the twin orcs until one of them jumped away, forcing them to change targets and focus on the one that remained on the floor. The orc on the floor grabbed his current target - Xandyr - and lifted him high up into the air before slamming him down hard. The protection paladin escaped harm by activating one of his shielding abilities, managing to avoid breaking any bones as he came down to the floor again.

Julip gasped as she felt searing heat on her right, and turned to stare at the giant piece of molten metal that was coming toward her quickly. It was still several yards away, but she could feel the heat from where she stood. She backpedaled quickly, careful not to step off the center beam she was on, but also making sure there was enough space between her and the metal. It slid past her, making her skin sweat from the sweltering heat. She grinned a little bit as the metal left her behind. It really did look like a poptart!

The rest of the poptarts followed the first into the opposite wall, and the belts continued to roll for a few minutes more before stilling. The orc that had jumped away returned to the fight, and the cycle began anew.

The second time, it was the second orc that leaped away, leaving his brother on the floor to face the fury of Illuminatus. This time, it was Greymoon taking the brunt of the suplex. His survival seemed to infuriate the orc, but there was nothing much he could do about it because Greymoon kept skirting away from him. The bear nimbly avoided the punch that would've crushed his skull had it connected, then was forced to leap the other way as a piston shot down toward him. His only warning had been the swiftly descending shadow, and then the piston slammed into the conveyor belt, flattening whatever was beneath it before rising back up into the ceiling. Elsewhere in the room, the other fighters were facing the same dance, trying to avoid being hit by the falling pistons.

There was a sudden lull as the pistons finally stopped falling, and both Hans'gar and Franzok returned to the floor. They confronted Xandyr and Greymoon again, once more taking a beating from spell and sword. The two orcs were a mass of wounds, their movements growing more sluggish and weaker as they continued to chase Xandyr and Greymoon around the small arena. Even when the conveyor belts started moving again, and the flat pieces of metal began to move from one side to the other, Hans'gar and Franzok seemed to almost stumble as they tried to find purchase on the conveyor belts.

The warriors of Illuminatus seized on the visible sign of weakness and, while avoiding the environmental threats, focused all of their energy into bringing down the two orcs. They hacked and slashed and cast their most powerful offensive spells as they focused on bringing one of the orcs to his knees. As soon as he was in range, Sabaak and Level hacked at his throat with their swords, tearing rents in the armor around his neck and then into the soft flesh beneath.

The hunters raised their bows and fired arrows into the vulnerable spots of the other orc, driving him backwards. His heel slipped in a smear of blood, and he collapsed backwards. Before he could even think of getting up, there were several fighters upon him, driving their weapons into soft flesh and making sure neither orc could get back up.

When the two orcs stopped moving, the warriors of Illuminatus stepped back from the corpses and looked at their latest kill in the long string.

"Is it just me," started Cosmodru, "or was that the easiest fight we've had so far?"

"No, it was really, really easy." Nph said.

"I don't know whether to be pleased or disappointed."

"You should know by now there's always a gimme fight somewhere. This is the fight that happened to be the 'gimme'."

"Come on, guys." called Xallion, pausing in the doorway out of the room. "We gotta keep goin'."


	5. Chapter 5

Flamebender Ka'graz

written to Fireball by Pitbull

From the room that belonged to Hans'gar and Franzok, the group ran down into a large room that looked like a forge. There were two machines, almost like a production line, in the room, and on each there was a conveyor belt rolling swords into the fires on the other end. Around the machines were groups of orcs from the Burning Blade clan. And on the far side of the room, the group could see Flamebender Ka'graz, their next target.

They fought their way through clump after clump of orcs, leaping upon the conveyor belts to get over them. When they reached the other side, they found themselves facing the next group of enemies, and they found themselves standing on a small ramp that led down into the room where their true prey stood, unconcerned with the group's arrival. Ka'graz stood with her back to the warriors, facing the giant forge before her. Beside her stood another orc, smaller than her, but no doubt just as vicious. They would have to defeat him before they could focus on Ka'graz.

The group took a moment to prepare themselves, taking the time to eat a little something since their stomachs were growling, and drink a little something to wet their parched throats. Some even took a flask and downed the contents of the glass vials in order to replenish the extra energy flowing inside them.

"Okay," Xallion said, stepping down the ramp after grabbing a handful of glowing green health-stones from a warlock's soul well, "dis is how we gonna do dis. Basically, de ranged is gonna scatter 'bout de room, tryin' ta stay 'bout seven yards apart. De melee's gonna be right on her ass wit' de tanks. She's gonna send out an attack called molten torrent. It's gonna focus on a ranged. If ya don't have anythin' ta immune it, ya gotta run it in ta melee."

"Immune it like...?" asked Level.

"Paladins can bubble. Hunters can deterrence. Mages, ice block." Xallion explained. "But if ya can't immune it, run inta melee. Also, she's gonna summon out some dogs. One o' dem is gonna fixate on a tank, and de otha' is gonna fixate on someone out in ranged. Ya gotta kite around. Eventually, dey gonna switch places. It's important we kill dem at de same time, or dey gonna come back to life an' our lives are gonna suck."

"Anything else we need to know?" asked Riotstrasza.

Xallion shook his head. "Nah, dat's about it. Just stay alive. We gonna bring down Steelbreaker first. We also gonna lust at de beginning."

"Just make sure you remember this time."

"Shut up!"

The group filed slowly into the room, making sure not to get too close to Steelbreaker or Ka'graz as they picked spots around the room. The ranged were careful not to take up positions near the forge, in order to make sure the melee would be safe from anything Flamebender could dish out to them or the ranged.

Schio tapped Xandyr's shoulder, adhering a soul-stone to him. Kyel did the same for Greymoon before the bear received the green light from the group. With faces set in determined expressions, the warriors of Illuminatus readied themselves for the coming battle. Greymoon charged forward, his jaws clamping down on Ka'graz's arm to prevent her from cutting him in two with her blade. Steelbreaker launched himself toward Roffls, and the monk danced away from the orc, leading him away from the group of melee fighters. The blood lust filled them seconds later, and under the vicious assault, Steelbreaker soon fell under the spells and blades of the fighters, leaving Ka'graz berating him, but fighting alone.

She focused on Greymoon and Xandyr as they worked to keep her from turning to those who were hacking at her back and lower legs. The casters and healers stood back as far as they could, and stood apart from one another, focusing on their respective jobs as they worked to whittle down the life of their newest enemy.

Besides the fire lines they had to avoid when Ka'graz threw them, the ranged were constantly listening for any sound, any indication, that they might be targeted by Flamebender's spell. Schio's voice rang out, calling the names of those who were afflicted. Depending on who it was, the target either ran in to melee, where the damage was split between all those there, or used a defensive spell that would immune the damage inflicted by the spell.

"Puppies are out!" yelled Schio as she side-stepped a fire line, flinging her hand toward the smallest of the two cinder wolves.

Xandyr took control of the larger of the two wolves, leading it away to another part of the room, just on the other side of Ka'graz and close to the forge. The melee went with him, ignoring Ka'graz in favor of the cinder wolf while the ranged did the same for their target. Just like Xallion said, at some point, the two wolves switched places, leaving some scrambling to attack the right target to make sure the two wolves died at the same time.

When they did, Ka'graz let out a roar of anger and raised her hand toward the ceiling. A swirl of fire began to coalesce around her, pulsing outwards.

"Run in!" Schio yelled, flinging a conflagrate spell as she ran toward Ka'graz. The others collapsed as well, surviving the firestorm because of the soothing healing of the druid, priests, and shaman. When the firestorm was over, the ranged hurried back to their original positions, conscious of the blades floating around the room. Then the fight started all over again.

Aware of the patterns of the fight, the ranged fighters were able to respond to Schio's calls quicker and quicker. When Julip heard her name called, the huntress quickly stepped away from those around her and activated her deterrence ability just seconds before the ball of molten rock hit her. She felt the heat but no pain. As soon as the molten ball dissipated, Julip rejoined the attack, her bow raised and bowstring twanging with shot after shot.

"We can't let her call the dogs a third time." Cosmodru said, panting harshly. "If she does, we're dead."

"We'll get her down." Jakten replied. "Don't worry."

The two druids rejoined the fight, trying to attack harder and harder even though their energy was starting to flag a bit. It was nothing compared to what Ka'graz was feeling. The Flamebender's strikes were becoming more wild, heavier. Her strikes were missing her targets, and blood was running from rents in her armor. Her footing was becoming more unsure, and her breathing was becoming more and more labored. She doubled over, getting a shield in the face for her lapse in attention. Her head snapped back violently, and she took a step back to try and catch her balance.

As her leg went back, a demon's blade came in howling and lodged in the bone of her knee, shattering it. As Ka'graz went down, several spells from mage and warlock roared in and struck her in the face and chest, freezing parts of her and burning parts of her with fel energy. She struggled to rise, but her legs would no longer hold her weight. She fell to her hands and good knee - the demon's blade came free with a sickening _squelch_ \- and Ka'graz looked up at the fighters surrounding her. She grinned, bloody teeth displayed in a macabre mask. An arrow snapped her head to the side violently and her body fell heavily to the ground. Webehuntin' lowered his bow, though he held it ready, just in case.

Ka'graz lay in a growing puddle of her own blood, unmoving.

The warriors of Illuminatus slowly turned their backs on her and headed back up the ramp, going toward the left instead of back across the conveyor belts and up the stairs. They didn't have far to go before they saw their next enemy, and they entered the small room cautiously, keeping close to the door to keep from being attacked until they were ready.


	6. Chapter 6

Kromog

Written to Warriors by Imagine Dragons

"Kologarn 2.0, am I right?" Thanatoss laughed, checking the edge of his blades to make sure they weren't chipped too badly. He joined a small crowd beside a Jeeves, allowing the small robot to make repairs to his weaponry and armor.

"The fight works kinda the same way." Nph said. "Only we don't have to worry about killing his hands."

"So this should be easy."

"Yyyyeah, maybe not."

Thanatoss raised a brow at Nph, and the paladin refused to meet the orc warrior's gaze. He looked over at Xallion, waiting for the shaman to begin his explanation of the fight they were about to engage in.

Xallion snapped closed his journal and slid it away in his pack. "Okay," he started, "dis seems easy enough. Tanks are gonna take de left side, ranged in de middle, and de melee on de right. Kromog's gonna focus on de tanks for de most part, so ya two are in charge of doin' what ya do best. De ranged and de melee gotta look out for his smash and dese swirlies on the ground dat look exactly like what's his name in Heart of Fear. We gotta avoid d'ose as much as we can. De otha t'ing is he's gonna summon up dese little runes on de floor. If dere red, get outta dem. If dere yellow, stand on dem."

"Make sure you're by yourself on them, though." Schio pointed out. "Or we're all gonna die."

Xallion nodded. "Dose yellow runes gonna form hands, and dey'll keep us from bein' blasted up inta de air. De damage he does durin' dat will kill whoever's not in d'ose hands instantly, 'less you got a pally bubble or somethin' of de like. If ya don't t'ink ya can shield in time, just get in a hand. Once we in de hand, ya gotta break yourselves out."

"The hunters should take the right side hands, so they can barrage or multishot themselves and us out. Anyone else who has area of effect spells should be doing the same." Xandyr mentioned. He nodded at Schio as she tapped his shoulder, adhering the soul-stone to him.

"Anything else we need to know?" Julip asked.

Xallion shook his head. "Nah, not really. Just don't die."

The group slowly split into their smaller teams and took up their positions. Kromog stared at them with indifference, as if the giant couldn't care enough to even lift a hand against the fighters arranging themselves before him.

Greymoon bellowed and charged Kromog, gaining the giant's attention to draw him away from the others. As soon as Grey began the attack, everyone else unleashed their spells or swung their swords, trying to whittle down the monster looming before them. Even as they attacked, they kept aware of what was going on around them, straining their ears for any yelled orders.

Kromog suddenly turned toward melee, raising his arms up high above his head. Noticing the movement, the melee scooted toward the side, managing to avoid the downward strike that would've crushed them into piles of goo and metal had it connected. When Kromog turned back to the two tanks, the melee returned to their first position, and continued their assault on the monster. Each strike of their blades or claws took chunks of hard flesh from Kromog's body, making little divots that didn't quite bleed. Even the casters' spells didn't seem to be doing much damage to Kromog's flesh, though it was hard to ignore the fel- and ice-burns and the arrows sticking out of his flesh.

When Kromog turned toward the ranged and raised his arms up, they scattered left and right to avoid the smash, then collapsed back on each other when it was over. They moved forward when a red rune appeared under their feet, and out of the corner of their eyes, they could see two massive hands on either side of them. It didn't take long for them to understand the purpose of those two massive hands, as they suddenly rushed forward toward that rune, smashing together with a thunderous crash. It was only by a thin hair that a few of them managed to escape being crushed between them.

The swirls were a little bit more difficult to dodge, since they came in bunches and were often close together. It took a little bit of dancing to avoid most of them, though not all of them were avoided. It took a little bit of getting used to, watching out for the whirls that were rushing toward them fast enough to cause just a split second of panic.

"Runes!" Schio yelled, already hurrying to a forming yellow rune on the floor.

At her cry, the others hurried to find a yellow rune of their own, which caused another dance of panic since there were a few confused people who stood on runes already occupied. In the spare seconds before the runes formed, there was a madcap dash for open yellow runes, with some people barely getting inside by the skin of their teeth.

The small hands exploded out of the ground, enveloping the fighters in protective grips. The hands kept them from being flung up into the air by Kromog's pounding fists, but at the same time, the hands didn't quite protect them from the incoming damage. They were forced to take their attention off Kromog and focus on the hands enveloping them, breaking each other out one by one. Between rains of fire, star falls, barrages, and those who were freed first breaking the hands that held the others. When they were all free, they returned to aiding Xandyr and Greymoon with the fight against Kromog.

The fight continued in that way for a while. The more they encountered Kromog's abilities, the faster they became at dodging them. Though a few still were unable to avoid things, the damage they took from them was minimal, either catching just the edge or being a little too slow to move completely out of the way.

When the yellow runes appeared again, the fighters were better prepared this time, managing not to lose a single one as Kromog began to smash his fists into the platform. They were all faster in breaking each other out of the stone hands as well, returning to the battle faster than before.

Kromog's eye rolled in its socket, sweeping over the three split groups with rage that such tiny creatures would _dare_ to attack him. His swings became harder, and it wasn't hard to tell that he was growing increasingly angry the longer he couldn't smash the fighters beneath him to tiny pancakes. At that point, Xallion triggered the blood lust ability, allowing his allies to be filled with extra power as they fought to take even more pieces out of Kromog's skin. Blood - theirs and Kromog's - was already flying, splattering the floor in droplets that made footing a little precarious. Somehow, though, they managed to keep on their feet, healing magic sealing up wounds almost as fast as the wounds were opened. Kromog bellowed, the sound drowning out all else. His hands lifted again, sending arcs of blood spraying through the air.

The warriors of Illuminatus scrambled for the yellow runes, managing just in time to get within the safety of the stone hands before Kromog brought his hands down hard. For a moment, Kromog stayed the way he was, panting harshly, even as Xandyr rushed forward to grab the monster's attention. Kromog swayed this way and that, his eye rolling around in its socket as if he couldn't quite focus on the smaller creatures below, still hacking away at him and ignoring the obvious signs of his distress.

"Look out!" Jaycie yelled, already running toward the back of the room as Kromog suddenly pitched forward.

Everyone else scrambled out of the way of the falling behemoth, though they were still lifted off the ground by a few inches by the monster's thunderous landing. Kromog's body seemed to deflate in death. Blackhand's voice rang out then, echoing from wherever he was. The fighters of Illuminatus barely paid attention to that voice, still staring at the monster that was now taking up most of the ledge they were standing on.

"Now where?" asked Digitz, carefully stepping around a large, still hand and eyeing it like it was going to come to life and squeeze him until his eyes popped out of their sockets.

"Now," started Xallion, "we go back up an' go through the last wing o' de place."

"What's that mean?"

Cos grinned at the rogue. "It means we're gonna go get run over by trains."

"What?"


	7. Chapter 7

Operator Thogar

Written to One Reason by Deadman Wonder Band (Deadman Wonderland Opening)

They headed back through the forge area and back to the elevator. As they arrived on the top floor of the Foundry, they headed back toward the right side of the room, going past the hall that they had gone down to face Oregorger and Gruul. They went past the room that held Beastlord Darmac's corpse. They stood in the center of the hall, barely able to see through the door to the room beyond.

They rushed the unsuspecting orcs guarding the hall and made sure those orcs wouldn't be getting back up. As they entered the room, continuing the fight against more guards, there were sounds of expletives and awe and shock escaping them now and again. The room was a train depo, with four lanes of tracks and more trains blowing through than they could count. On the far side of the room stood another massive orc, who was ordering the trains to go here and there, and to get supplies off them faster than a normal creature could move. There was no mistaking that orc for anyone other than Operator Thogar.

When they finished off the guards, the last of the trains had been sent on its way, leaving the four tracks clear and empty. The room seemed unnaturally quiet without the noise of the trains, and their footsteps seemed unnaturally loud because of that silence.

"So, beyond not getting run over by trains," Digitz started, glowering at Cosmodru, "what do we do?"

"Beyond not getting run over by trains, you kill that guy." Xandyr said, pointing at Thogar.

"Really?"

"Really."

"Sort of." Xallion broke in. "We gotta dodge trains, and kill him, but we also gotta kill a few otha' guys. Eventually, he gonna get reinforcements we gonna have ta kill. One's gonna be a fire-mender, and de otha' is gonna be called a Grom'kar Man."

Thanatoss snorted. "Grom'kar Man?"

"Hey, I didn't pick de names, man."

"So we kill them when they show up, but otherwise dodge trains and kill Thogar?" Digitz asked.

"Pretty much."

"Beyond the other obvious stuff, anyway."

"Yup."

Digitz nodded and looked over at Jaycie. She gave him a thumbs-up and a wink.

After a few more moments of discussion, and setting up colored markers to make movement more streamlined between the train tracks. They prepared themselves the best they could, drinking flasks, eating food, adhering soul-stones to Greymoon and Xandyr, and then when there was nothing more they could do, they gave the all clear signal to the tanks and readied themselves for their newest battle. To say that they weren't nervous was an understatement, but the group had been through worse scrapes together than speeding trains and had come out relatively unscathed. With any luck, this would be the same.

Greymoon charged Thogar and latched onto the orc's arm to drag him back to the second track closest to the entrance of the room, holding him there while everyone else scattered around him on the same track, keeping careful watch on the doors on either side of the room. The ranged kept their distance from the melee after a void zone opened up on the floor, the result of a bomb. It drew whoever stood in it toward the center, dealing more and more damage the longer one stood in it. It quickly became clear - even without the help of Thanatoss' cursing - that those mines were better off being thrown somewhere at range, requiring only the casters and hunters to move when needed.

The first and second trains blew by them without injuring anyone, though the wake of their passing buffeted them all, snapping at their clothes and threatening to bowl them over from the sheer wind alone. They could even feel the heat from the train's wheels as it passed by them on either side, leaving the air hot and causing sweat to break out on their skin even faster than it would have normally.

They found it was easy to avoid the trains, either by listening to the voice of either Xallion or Schio, or by watching the doors of the tracks they happened to be on. It was an odd little dance they were forced to do, especially when the fire-mender and the Grom'kar Man appeared to aid Thogar in the fight. Between those two and the random reinforcements that were called in to help as the trains blew through, the fight was actually _easy_ compared to the other fights they had survived through so far. The pattern of the trains remained the same, and save for a few extra things they had to contend with, the fight was quite entertaining.

Operator Thogar was a mess of injuries by the time they returned to the first track they had started with. Blood smeared the floor, as did the bodies of the reinforcements. The trains still continued to blow through, not caring who or what was stuck beneath their wheels. Body parts were cut off and flung into the air, or were simply crushed under the heavy wheels of the trains. It made the dance a little more difficult but not impossible, since it didn't take long for bodies to become mush. They only had to worry about where they put their feet, the bombs tossed their way by the cannons, and of course, the incoming trains so that they didn't end up dead themselves.

Thogar's energy was running out almost as fast as his blood. Any injury he gave was quickly healed by someone's magic, leaving the fighters surrounding him whole and healthy even as he became more and more worn down. The tendons in his leg became severed when a lucky claw or dagger got close enough to tear the skin and muscles beneath. When he went to the ground, there were bloodthirsty blades waiting for his back. Thanatoss reared back to avoid Thogar's flailing arms, the orc's final attempt to get the melee away from him and get back to his feet. His attempt failed, though, as he came under quick assault by blade, claw, and spell. The orc collapsed to the ground, sprawled on his stomach across the rail, the light in his eyes leaving soon enough.

With Operator Thogar's death, the trains stopped coming through the doors. Just to be safe, though, the group quickly got off the tracks and back onto the platform. They watched the tracks for a second, almost as if they were studying the tracks and how close they had come to death each time a train had blown through.

"Hey, did anybody notice this box over here?" Griddlecake asked, already opening the chest and rummaging around in it. He came out with a sack of gold and a handful of blackrock ore. "Some nice stuff in there."

"Leave it to the rogue to find gold," Kalahandra said.

"Now where do we go?" asked Riotstrasza. Xallion pointed. "Oh, _hell no_. I'm _done_ jumping down mysterious holes in the ground!"

"Just do it." Xallion said, and jumped down the hole himself.

"Just don't turn water-walking on or anything!"

Xallion's laugh echoed up to them, followed by a loud splash as he hit the water below.


	8. Chapter 8

Iron Maidens

Written to Bang Bang by Jessie J, Arianna Grande, Nicki Minaj

After climbing out of the water and heading up the platform, the fighters of Illuminatus fought their through a decent wave of orcs, both guards and workers. When their enemies were dead, they took a few minutes to wring water out of their clothes and try to dry their armor by several campfires. Fighting it wet clothing when not given a choice was one thing, but no one wanted to end up with their skin rubbed raw by wet, clingy cloth when they didn't have to. When they were all relatively dry, Greymoon and Xandyr caught the attention of any remaining workers, who decided engaging the group was a bad idea only after they were corpses on the floor.

"Anyone else notice that giant ship over there?" Julip said, pointing.

"Yeah, about that." Cosmodru pointed to two of the occupants on the ship who finally noticed that their minions had met their end. As soon as the last minion fell, the two figures leaped from the ship over to the platform the group stood on, leaving them facing three female orcs. "They're the ones we have to fight."

"Plus, some of ya are gonna have ta go over ta dat ship." Xallion said. Everyone turned to look at him, faces set in expressions of 'not me!' as they stared at the shaman. Xallion pointed to Cosmodru. "You be in charge o' dat group."

"All right."

As Cosmodru set about choosing the people who would be going over to the Dreadnaught, Xallion began to explain the fight to the entire group. "Dey don't share a health pool, so our top priority is ta make sure dey all go down at de same time. When dey reach a certain point, dey gonna gain anuddah ability dat's gonna make de fight a little bit harder. At dat point, we can take 'em down one at a time. De fight'll get progressively easier den."

"Also, one of them's gonna jump over to the ship. The group going over will have to kill some adds, and then stop the bomb loader." Cosmodru said. "Then we jump back and target another one, and the process starts over until they take too much damage."

"There are a few other abilities we have to look out for too," said Schio. As she explained them, the group slowly moved to the right side of the room. The ranged stood together in a clump while the melee joined Xandyr and Greymoon closer to the center of the platform. When everyone was ready, the two tanks charged the three orcs standing before them.

The group's first target was Ga'ran. Her companions caught the edges of attacks, but they weren't sustaining as much damage as Ga'ran was. It felt like chaos amongst the fighters of Illuminatus, having to leave their group if they were targeted by a rapid fire, or hurrying to get to the marked area behind Greymoon to be able to survive the blood ritual with minimal damage. This pattern continued until Ga'ran leaped toward the Dreadnaught. The team going over broke for the giant hooks that hung above the space where they fought, and grabbed hold of them to swing over.

In the meantime, the group left to deal with Marak and Sorka were focused on bringing down Marak, as well as dodging bombs that the Dreadnaught shot over. It was like playing a sick game of dodgeball, only you had to avoid getting blown up rather than throwing the bombs back. When the Dreadnaught's bomb launcher was deactivated, the ship team were thrown back to the rest of the group. They had to avoid the last wave of bombs, but they rejoined their groups and continued the attack on Marak until Xandyr called for them to attack Sorka.

This round they had to deal with one new attack - the penetrating shot. While they were grouped together, it was easy to intercept the shot with bodies, minimizing the damage that the target would sustain. The hunters and mages were able to use their feign death and ice-block abilities respectively to avoid the damage, allowing the rest of the raid to focus on dealing damage to their enemies and avoid sustaining more wounds themselves. When the Dreadnaught became active again, the ship group once more headed over, leaving the others to deal with, not just the bombs and the rapid fires, but the penetrating shots as well. This time, the paladins saved the lives of those who were targeted by the penetrating shots, shielding them from harm while allowing the target to avoid the explosions and the bombs falling on their heads.

When Marak returned from the ship, the group's attention was on Sorka, trying to make sure she was sustaining the same damage as her companions. When Sorka went over to the Dreadnaught, the ship group went over again, leaving the rest of the group to repeat their actions over again.

When the ship group, and Sorka, returned to the battlefield this time, everyone knew that something had changed. All of a sudden, the three orcs started hitting Greymoon and Xandyr harder, and Ga'ran leaped away from her sisters toward another area of the battlefield. There, she dropped a turret that spat out fireballs in a ever-widening circle.

"Melee stay away from the turret!" Schio yelled before anyone could get close to Ga'ran. "Ranged, take it down!" Her own chaos bolt echoed her words, slamming into the turret and breaking off a small piece. As the ranged turned toward the turret, the melee turned their attention to Marak, working to take her down first. The fight repeated in this manner until the group had taken down Marak, and then their attention focused on Ga'ran.

"I really, really, _really_ hate these fuckin' turrets!" Thanatoss shouted as he narrowly dodged a fireball headed his way. He rushed Ga'ran, swinging his weapon toward her as hard as he could. Before he could land another hit on her, she leaped away, planting another turret again. Thanatoss let out a bellow of rage and turned his attention onto Marak since she was in close range to him. When Ga'ran returned, his sword bit into her flesh, drawing a bright line of red on her skin. She cursed at him, and he cursed back at her.

True to Xallion's word, the fight _did_ get progressively easier once Marak was down and they only things they had to worry about were dodging the turrets and whatever else the two remaining Maidens threw at them. Ga'ran didn't last long under the constant assault, because after the turrets were dealt with, the ranged quickly returned to firing spells and arrows at her. She took the brunt of the fury of the melee and the ranged, all of which were pissed at her for dropping those turrets and forcing them to split their power in half. When she fell, Sorka was the only one left to deal with. Without the turrets to dodge or kill, Sorka was the focus for all the fury the fighters of Illuminatus had. It didn't take long for her corpse to fall on the floor, joining those of the other two Maidens.

Even as Blackhand's voice rang out around them, full of fury and hatred, the warriors of Illuminatus were already moving toward the right-hand side of the room. Despite the wounds sustained in this fight, there seemed to be a spring in their step. Only one more fight separated them from Blackhand now.


	9. Chapter 9

The Blast Furnace

Written to Why Does the Sun Shine by They Might Be Giants

After jumping down the ledge and heading back up to the elevator, the group headed back toward the hall that led down to where Gruul and Oregorger had once been. For a moment they stood on the upper walkway, staring down at the giant furnace that they could see below. Every once in a while, a great pulse of heat would wash through the room, so hot that they could almost feel it on their skin. They also saw orcs and ogron, all of which were working the furnace in some way. And caged within the furnace was a giant fire elemental, the source of the power of the Foundry.

They hung a left down the path that circled down to the floor below. Once there, they only had to kill one monster before the whole of the Blast Furnace was available to them. They stood staring at the massive construct that was the Furnace, gaping at what had been wrought by Blackhand.

"Okay," started Xandyr, "this fight is three phases. Phase one, we need close those doors over there. See where the bellows are? We have to use the bombs that are placed on us and that we pick up to close them. We need to make sure they go down at the same time, so we don't get any more bellows-workers, got it? Second phase, some shaman are going to come out and try to keep the elemental in there chained. We have to kill them, but they're going be guarded by whatever's left over from the first phase, along with the stone elementals and the fire-callers that come out to heal them. We need to kill all four of them in order to start the last phase, which is when we fight that" - he pointed toward the giant fire elemental caged within the furnace - "and when we bring it down, we win."

"And all we have left is Blackhand." said Erethor.

"Exactly."

"So, we split into two teams to take down each side and then we all group back up together for the second and third phase of the fight." Scrimbocos said.

Xandyr nodded. "Pretty much how it goes, yeah."

They took a few minutes splitting into two groups, and made sure they had refreshed their flasks and soul-stones and food before they started to approach their respective sides. There seemed to be a collective deep breath taken before Xandyr charged forward, taking Foreman Feldspar with him toward the left hand side with his group, while Erethor and his group went right.

"If you have a bomb, make sure you detonate it on the heat regulator!" Schio yelled over the din, sending her spells toward the current target, which was a giant ogron, operating the bellows.

"Pick up the bombs that the engineers drop too!" yelled Scrimbocos, pointing at a sack of bombs sitting alone on the floor before he swooped into action, the monk moving to heal the wounded members of his team.

As soon as the bellows operator fell, the left group's attention turned to Foreman Feldspar, the security guards, and the engineers, trying to bring them down while the right side dealt with whatever was attacking them. It seemed too soon before another set of bellows operators leapt down from above, but they were quickly brought down before they could begin to do their jobs.

Roffls inhaled sharply as the floor suddenly began to glow beneath him. The Pandaren monk stared down at the floor, feeling the searing heat on his paws. Too late did he realize he needed to move away, jumping away from the rupture that surged beneath him. He wasn't alone, others gasping as they realized they were about to have their lower extremities burned off. The ruptures were all over the place, making it difficult for Xandyr and Erethor to move without sustaining more damage than they were already taking. Still, now that the fighters knew what to look out for, they were able to react accordingly, running toward the edges of the room to allow the rupture to appear without hindering anyone else fighting.

They realized something was different as soon as the last bomb went off to close the final heat regulator. The fire elemental once trapped inside the furnace was moving forward, which was their first clue that the phases were changing. The two groups quickly began to move toward each other, still fighting with their enemies in order to bring them down. Those who were afflicted with rupture still moved off to the side to allow it to explode without impeding anyone else. Foreman Feldspar fell beneath the trampling feet of the Illuminatus raiders, his death unnoticed save only for the fact the damage he dealt had stopped.

Their focus now turned to the primal elementalists, who were working to contain the Heart of the Mountain. It became clear that the elementalists were immune to any of their attacks, so they had to change their tactics some.

"Thana!" Schio called, as the tauren warrior turned to face the slag elemental attacking him, "Kite that thing onto the elementalist!"

Thanatoss didn't respond to her words with a signal, instead moving toward his target as directed. The moment the slag elemental was on top of the shielded primal elementalist, the damage dealers turned to the elemental to bring it down as fast as they could.

"Attack the elementalist now!" Xandyr yelled as he saw the orc's shield come down. As if to accentuate his words, there came a flurry of attacks from spell and sword, blood and flesh flying as the fighters focused down their target.

Now that they knew what to do, there was less verbal instruction, save to direct whoever was targeted by the slag elemental to the next primal elementalist. Between the firecallers, who were focused down and interrupted to prevent them casting a healing spell on a primal elementalist, and the security guards whose shields provided more of an annoying obstacle than anything else, the fighters focused on bringing down one primal elementalist at a time. They also dealt with being targeted by the Volatile Fire spell the firecallers used on them, moving away from their companions to avoid hurting them with the spell.

When the last primal elementalist fell, the Heart of the Mountain let out a bellow as the chains binding it came free. As if sensing the fight was nearing its end, Goshen unleashed his blood lust ability, filling his companions with extra strength and speed to allow their weapons and spells to swing faster and hit harder. Though the Heart of the Mountain was their primary target, the fighters used a scant few seconds to bring down the last of the firecallers and security guards. As soon as the firecallers and security guards were dead and laying in pools of their own blood and viscera on the floor, every damage dealer turned their attention to the giant elemental that was focused on Xandyr and Erethor.

The final phase was quite messy, all things considered. Between the blasts of searing heat that the Heart of the Mountain unleashed, the fighters quickly found themselves affected with a spell that was similar to the rupture they faced in the beginning of the fight. It seemed as though those affected with the spell panicked slightly, and the pools of molten floor material were scattered everywhere, limiting the places they could move safely. It took a minute for the newest victims of the melt spell to realize that they needed to treat it just like the rupture - moving off to the edge of the room and allowing the spell to drop off there, instead of in their paths of movement.

They were almost to the left side of the room once more when the Heart of the Mountain suddenly began to sway from side to side. There wasn't any way for the fighters could tell if the elemental was actually dying, or was about to die, but they did notice that the Heart of the Mountain began to slow down some, as if something inside it was beginning to solidify. Suddenly, it reared back, bellowing with the primal fury only an elemental could have. Its arms reached toward the sky and then -

BOOM

The Heart of the Mountain exploded, and the searing heat that blasted out of its remains made some lift their arms to shield their faces from the heat.

As the room began to cool, the fighters of Illuminatus looked upon the remains of the Heart of the Mountain. From somewhere within the depths of the Foundry, they could hear Blackhand's voice ringing out, full of fury.

"I guess we're going after him now," whispered Erethor, as if he couldn't quite believe that they had come so far.

"Looks like it." Xandyr responded, looking back up the path that would take them back to the main floor. Already a few of the team were beginning to trudge back up the path, taking it slow and taking their time.

"I can't believe it's almost over." said Jaycie. She brushed a bit off ash off her skirt and followed after Digitz.

"I can," said Schio. "But I also can count on more crap appearing that we're going to have to deal with. There's no such thing called rest for the weary, you know."

"That's why the dwarves invented alcohol."

"So we're forced to pass out into unwanted drunken stupor-naps?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

Schio made a noise and followed after Jaycie and Digitz, and the rest of the fighters of Illuminatus eventually made their way back up to the main floor of the Foundry, knowing the end of their struggle was coming.


	10. Chapter 10

Blackhand

Written to Message in a Bottle by The Police

Once back up on the main floor of the Foundry, the group first noticed that there was now a bridge spanning the center of the room whereas before, there hadn't been a bridge. They crossed it slowly, carefully, and entered a long hallway. There were protrusions in the hall, which made them very wary. There was also a female orc, Forgemistress Flamehand, standing in the hall, watching the fighters of Illuminatus approach her. Her lips split in a wide grin before she charged at Xandyr, startling the paladin into raising his shield to deflect her attack. Before she could withdraw to attack again, she came under assault from spell and sword. There was a strange hissing sound that filled the hallway, and suddenly the protrusions were spitting out flame, cutting off the paths of escape and threatening to cook the fighters in their armor. They managed to avoid the worst of it, with Xandyr and Greymoon forcing Flamehand to follow them to clear spaces. She didn't survive for too long, and with her death, the fires from the flame jets went out.

Slowly, the fighters trickled through the hallway to the elevator at the end. Once on it, the elevator took them up, up, up until they entered a circular room with no visible exit or entrance save for where they stood. And there, pacing the floor, was Blackhand.

"So how do we do this fight?" Sabaak asked, looking to Xandyr and Schio. Everyone turned their attention to the two blood elves, taking the moment to breathe and take care of themselves while the two explained how they would move on from here.

"First phase is pretty easy," Schio started. "Ideally, we attack him and avoid the bombs he throws out because stepping on one detonates the others, and they hurt. A lot. He's also going to throw shit at us, and two of us are going to get targeted by an ability called Marked for Death. If you have this, you _have_ to move to a large debris pile to make sure his Impaling Throw doesn't kill you. You also have to make sure that no one is between you and said Impaling Throw. The debris pile shows up when he uses his Demolition ability, which causes stuff to fall from above. Try and avoid it all, and keep an eye out for the large orange swirls, because those indicate where a large debris pile will be. We also have to watch out for Molten Slag, which will come in from the edges of the room and slowly creep forward until we push him or we die."

"When he gets beat up enough," Xandyr continued, "he's going to break the floor with an Exploding Iron Star. It does heavy damage to us, so we'll have to be prepared for that. We're also going to fall into the room below. There, we're not only going to have to fight Blackhand, but we're going to have to fight the Siegemaker he calls, as well as some additional warriors that'll be on the top ring above us. The Siegemaker will fixate on one of us, whoever's closest to it, and will chase that person around until it's destroyed or its target dies. Try to stay ahead of it, because it'll damage you with its battering ram if you get to close to its front. Because they're protected by blackiron plating, you can use a slag bomb or Blackhand's Impaling Throw to break that plating, making the Siegemaker easier to kill. This means that the people who are targeted by Marked for Death need to run behind a Siegemaker."

"As for the warriors that'll be above us, they're going to throw something called an explosive round on us, which we need to avoid. It's kinda like an area of effect thing." Schio tapped her dungeon journal. "At the same time, Blackhand's gonna use something called Shattering Smash on the tank. Anyone in it will be knocked up into the air and land on the balcony. Your job then is to just kill whatever's up there. You'll be affected by something called Incendiary Shot, and if your stacks get too high, you need to jump off. Rinse repeat." She turned the page, frowning slightly. "Last phase will come when he's pretty close to death. He's gonna break the floor again and we're going to fall down to the Iron Crucible. This is going to be kind of the hardest part because we're going to have to deal with unavoidable fire damage. He's also going to get powered up."

"Since there's nowhere for us to hide from Impaling Throw, we're going to have to make sure no one is in the way." Xandyr said. "So position yourselves close to him so you aren't knocked off the platform. We can use certain abilities to make you immune to it, so you shouldn't be affected, but just in case. He's also gonna put bombs on two of us, plus the tank currently holding his attention. You've got about five seconds to get away from everyone else before the bomb explodes. So our job, Grey, will be to tank him around the edge of the arena, so that the slag holes and slag craters are around the outer edge of the platform. Everyone should be stacked nice and close to us and him, so we can move quickly to safe positions and those with bombs can move quickly to a clear space to drop them."

"The last thing we all have to worry about is Massive Shattering Smash." Schio said. "With that, we have to make sure we don't get knocked off the platform, and after, we need to quickly stack up again. And that's basically the whole of it."

"Seems complicated." Kalahandra said.

"It's a long explanation, but once we get into it, we should be all right." Xandyr replied.

"When should we use lust?" asked Goshen.

"In the very last phase." Schio said. "Believe me, we're going to need it then."

"All right." said Xandyr. "Are we ready to give this a shot?"

There were looks of uncertain determination, but everyone standing there gave their signal to continue on. They knew what this final encounter meant. They would fight - risking death - to bring down Blackhand and stop the Iron Horde from completing any of its plans. It would also clear their way to the next challenge they would face, and it would make them stronger for it. Hands gripped hilts, lips prepared spells of destruction and healing.

Xandyr looked to Greymoon and nodded. Greymoon nodded back.

Greymoon charged forward, attacking Blackhand before the orc realized he was under attack. As the bear latched onto the armored orc, the melee joined him while the ranged took up positions within the center of the room. Spells flew as fast as swords were swung, and the smell of fire and ash and burning metal filled the air as the room filled with noise of metal striking metal, grunts and snarls, and curses.

"Bombs!" Schio yelled, drawing attention to the bombs that were suddenly scattered around the melee. They scattered away from the bombs, doing their best not to touch one and therefore set it off. At the same time, or nearly seconds after - everything was happening too fast for her to tell - Schio was again yelling for everyone to look out as Blackhand began to make debris fall from above.

Faintly, through the din of all the noise, Kalahandra's voice could be heard. The restoration druid snapped out names and orders for those people as she began to move to avoid the falling debris, her three-fingered hands glowing with green as she fought to keep her teammates alive.

"Here comes Marked for Death!" Schio yelled, quickly following her statement by calling two names. Those people had a few spare seconds to panic before they bolted behind the debris pile closest to them - which, unfortunately, wasn't the same one, but at least they were protected by the Impaling Throw that Blackhand threw at them.

Blackhand roared out in fiery anger, "You hide like children!"

 _That_ stung the pride a little bit, and spells and sword swings began to come harder and harder, even though the casters and melee were constantly moving in order to keep up with Greymoon and Xandyr as they did what they could to avoid bombs, debris, and unnecessary damage.

The group went through another set of demolitions before Blackhand gave a loud bellow and charged into the center of the room. Whatever he said was lost amid the cacophony of the floor suddenly collapsing beneath their feet. Wind whistled in their ears as they plummeted, hearts in their throats, eyes staring at the ground that was fast approaching them.

Somehow, they all survived the landing, and after a spare second to get their wits back about them, the casters and melee of Illuminatus charged at Blackhand again. Now it seemed to become even more chaotic, for as the bombs came out, Greymoon and Xandyr had to position themselves _just so_ , so that when Blackhand raised his weapon to crush them and whichever melee was standing with them, they could both avoid the attack and use it to fly up into the stands behind them.

A quick glance above showed that the stands above their heads were quickly filling with orcs, and those orcs were throwing things down onto those below. Riotstrasza grit her teeth as she shielded her allies who were with her, and the discipline priest cast a quick glance below at her fellow healers, who had their own troubles to deal with.

A siegemaker rolled out of a gate, and began to chase Badlanguage around the arena floor. The hunter did her best to kite the siegemaker over the scattered bombs, all the while attacking Blackhand. It was chancy and chaotic at best, because those below were constantly forced to move, either to avoid the siegemaker, Blackhand's attacks, or each other.

And over the din of everything was Schio's voice, yelling out names of those who had Marked for Death, ordering them to hide behind the siegemaker to keep from being hurt - or killed - by Impaling Throw.

"Switch!" Schio yelled, activating her Havoc ability before casting a series of chaos bolts, only one of which splitting to hit both Blackhand and the siegemaker. "Get the siegemaker down! We don't want it casting Mortar!"

Unfortunately, they weren't fast enough. Just before the siegemaker broke apart, it managed to launch a fireball that became a pool of fire on the floor. Now, though, the ranged and the few melee left behind on the ground floor knew what they had to do. The second siegemaker was brought down far faster than the first, forcing the last two people who were targeted with Marked for Death to soak the Impaling Throw aimed at them. By the time the third siegemaker was making its appearance, Xandyr was yelling, "Ignore it! Bring him down!"

"Don't ignore the Marked for Deaths, though!" Schio snapped, following her own orders a second later.

Even as she moved, the floor beneath her feet gave a moan, and then it began to splinter. Just like with the floor above, this one gave way, spilling them all down into the Crucible. The first thing that hit them was the heat of the molten earth, the slag, and the second thing that hit them was that this was the final stage of their fight. If they lost here, everything was over. Everything they had worked so hard to accomplish up to this point would be meaningless. Everything that was dear to them would be lost, forfeit, because they couldn't make this last stand. It was a situation they were all intimately familiar with, but it was still a situation that elicited the basest feeling in them, the feeling of the need to survive.

They hit the ground and within the first seconds of landing they were already moving. The power of the blood lust filled them, and the spells cast hit Blackhand before the first blade touched his armor, tearing a rent through it. Greymoon and Xandyr pulled Blackhand back toward the edge of the arena, giving the rest of their group the room needed to maneuver. Those affected with the bombs ran to the left, as close to the edge as they could without needing to fear being blasted off, while those affected by Marked for Death ran to their respective sides, doing what they could to _not_ get anyone else hit by the Impaling Throw. The entire time, with sweat and blood rolling down their faces and staining their clothes and fur, the team of Illuminatus continued to fight.

They moved as the arena began to fill up with slag, limiting their space on the floor. All the careful planning and discussion went right out the window now, as everyone fought to survive just a minute longer, to fire off that last arrow or spell, to give that final heave of muscled shoulders and drive that sword or dagger into armor and, hopefully, into the vulnerable flesh beneath. Hearts were pounding, adrenaline running high, but their focus remained clear on Blackhand as the casters and melee took chunks out of Blackhand, whether it was flesh or armor.

Blackhand took a step and faltered. His knees finally failed to support him. Being closer to him than the ranged, the melee saw this weakness and seized upon it. Griddlecake and Digitz struck for Blackhand's hamstrings and Achilles tendons, their daggers sparking on armor plating. Martyrdom, Thanatoss, Judgement, and Erethor aimed their blades for Blackhand's middle or chest, larger targets that would give them a sure hit. Goshen sought the power of the elements, and the enhancement shaman filled his axes with their power, trying to tear away the armor that Blackhand was wearing, allowing the rest of the melee to get at the vulnerable skin and flesh beneath.

Spells and arrows howled in, and hunter pets with bloody fangs and claws stuck to Blackhand's backside, fighting with the same fury their masters had. Warlock demons laughed as they hacked at Blackhand, their fiery eyes focused on him with murderous glee. Blackhand faltered again, and just for an instant, his weapon lowered enough that Greymoon and Xandyr were able to get within his guard and deliver a killing strike. Blood spurted in wide arcs as Blackhand swung his hammer wildly, trying to force those fighting against him back. It was too late, though. Far, far too late for him.

Blackhand's eyes burned as he glared hatred at the warriors of Illuminatus. He crumpled to his knees, then finally collapsed in a heap of blood, molten slag, and ruined armor. The final spells and arrows slammed into his corpse at the same time swords, daggers, and axes found their last targets, denting metal and cutting unfeeling flesh.

It almost didn't seem real.

Slowly, they withdrew from Blackhand, standing in a semi-circle around the body. They were sore, bloody, sweaty - alive.

As they got their breathing back under control, and loosened their holds on the hilts of their weapons, the fighters of Illuminatus looked around at each other. Smiles and laughter soon filled the room, exalting in their victory over the threat to their home and friends.

"So, uh," began Broniichan. "How do we get out of here?"

"You could always jump." Riotstrasza said sweetly.

"Nuh-uh, no way, no thank you."

"Then it looks like you'll have to hearth."

"Seems kind of sad that we have to separate just to get out of here." Julip mentioned quietly.

Xandyr shrugged. "Even if we do, we'll be together again soon enough. Don't forget, we still have more to do after this."

One by one, the fighters of Illuminatus winked out of existence there in the Crucible, leaving behind the proof that they had taken out one of their most dangerous enemies. They knew, though, that their struggle was far from over. Their attention now turned to Tanaan Jungle, the place where they had first entered Draenor and the place they had fled from, and they all wondered what was awaiting them there.


End file.
